


One Day at a Time

by bearpantaloons



Category: Orphan Black (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, F/M, the movie had way more death, the violence isn't too graphic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-04
Updated: 2018-10-05
Packaged: 2019-07-25 04:16:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 13,949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16189898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bearpantaloons/pseuds/bearpantaloons
Summary: In the future, when it's illegal to have siblings due to overpopulation, Sarah Manning has six of them. She and her sisters take turns as their shared identity, Beth Childs, until one of their sisters disappears. Will the remaining sisters risk being caught to save their missing sibling?Based off the Netflix film, What Happened to Monday?





	1. Eight Days a Week

In the coming years, do you ever wonder what effect global warming will have on the planet? Running out of fossil fuels without discovering a sustainable energy source? Running out of food? Clean water? Overpopulation? What would the world’s governing agencies do? They would have to make a choice: either figure out a way to feed the world, control the number of mouths to feed, or die out.

Scientists were able to solve the food issue by creating genetically modified crops, but this, in turn, increased the fertility in women and the likelihood of multiple births. China was criticized for their one-child policy in 1979, but now the United Nations were bringing it back in 2043 on a mass scale. They called it the Child Allocation Act. Since families were only allowed one child, any siblings discovered were rounded up and sent to the Child Allocation Bureau to be cryogenically frozen until the world was able to sustain more people, or they’re able to colonize another planet.

The politician behind it all, Aldous Leekie, gives the populations promises of survival and hope, saying that by sending siblings into cryo-sleep, it is not only allowing siblings to continue to exist, it is also guaranteeing their future populations. It’s all a bureaucratic smokescreen, of course. With science at their disposal, they could easily distribute methods of birth control, or carry out the less ethically sound selective reduction that would inevitably kill the additional fetuses. Cryo-sleep was the easier foolproof solution.

Pregnant women would go into hiding, fearing that their children would be taken from them. Uprisings would occur periodically, targeting the Child Allocation Bureau, but many of the resistances were squashed immediately. They were no match for the firepower that the CAB had.

Checkpoints were set up all over the place and people lined up to get checked in. Every person was given a clunky black metal bracelet that acted as a barcode of sorts. They used it prove their identity, as a key to unlock their homes, and as communication devices. No one was allowed to leave their quadrants, unless they worked for the government, and many lived in squalor.

Aldous Leekie has built his entire platform on the performance and efficiency of CAB’s ability to control births and keep the population contained. The government and scientists love to hate him, the general population just hates him.

** Monday, 2073 **

A woman walks down the street, wearing a navy blue pencil skirt and fancy blouse with a long coat. She walks through the crowd of people, all heading toward the next checkpoint. When she gets up to the guards, she scans her bracelet on the sensor and waits a few seconds. Her photograph and name shows up on the screen: Beth Childs. One of the guards is a tall man with sandy blonde hair. He gives Beth a once over and curls the corner of his lip.

“You’re fine, ma’am. Go through.”

He turns to look at Beth once more as she walks by.

Beth enters the large bank building where her workplace is and walks silently to her office. She turns on her computer and receives an e-mail that reminds her that there’s a new promotion decision coming up. She reads the e-mail and sighs, continuing her work as per usual. The rest of the day is spent looking at charts and going over data. On the way out of the office, she stands in front of the elevator, waiting for it to arrive. She hears a voice behind her and groans when she realizes who it is.

Rudy.

“So, promotion’s coming up, eh?”

“I suppose it is.”  

Rudy shifts his body, so he’s angled toward Beth. “You know it’s mine.”

Beth doesn’t move or look at Rudy at all. When the elevator arrives, she walks through the doors silently. Rudy follows and pushes the button for the lobby. They ride down without saying a word to each other. When the doors slide open, Rudy holds his arm out in front of the doors and allows Beth to step through first.

She keeps walking forward without looking at the man and hears him call out behind her.

“See you tomorrow. Hope you’re ready for the presentation.”

Beth walks the short distance home; she lives about half a mile away. She turns her bracelet to scan it at her front lobby door and walks through. The security guard at the desk gives her a small nod.

“Children show scars like medals. Lovers use them as secrets to reveal.”

Beth stops and turns to him. “Excuse me?”

The guard shrugs. “Leonard Cohen. Don’t you remember?”

Beth gives a hesitant nod, not quite sure what he’s talking about. “Oh, yes. Of course.”

The guard leans on one of the pillars holding up the old building. “Hey, you all right? You were looking a little rough early Sunday morning and you look just fine today. You got to teach me your secret.”

Beth narrows her eyes. “Sunday morning?”

The guard nods and points at the planter near the door. “You puked right over there.”

Beth nods and calls the elevator. “Well, we all have to let out a little steam sometimes. Goodbye, Felix.”

Felix gives her a little wave and watches her ascend.

Beth gets to her apartment and unlocks the door with a combination keypad. When the door swings open, she’s met by the sight of her six identical twin sisters sitting at the dinner table, waiting for her arrival.

“Welcome home, Rachel,” one of them says while standing and embracing her. Rachel stiffens at the physical contact and lays her briefcase on the floor next to the door.

_Thirty years ago, Siobhan Sadler looked through a plastic screen where her daughter was lying on a flat slab, crying out in pain. She was giving birth to her granddaughters – septuplets. They had friends within the resistance who could hide them and help them hide the siblings. Siobhan watched her daughter writhing on top of the metal bed while she continued to give birth to the children. One by one, they came out and doctors put them aside to clean them._

_When the seventh child was out, the heart monitors began beeping and the doctors started rushing around, trying to wake Siobhan’s daughter. A wave of panic washed over her. Is she going to have to care for these seven children on her own? She’s fully capable, she knows, but she will be responsible for them. She will have to train all of them to become one person, a single identity._

_When the girls were old enough, Siobhan began manufacturing bracelets for all of them. She would find scrap metal and circuits around. Friends from the resistance also supplied her with some parts. She would stay up until all hours of the night, looking through a magnifying glass, using tweezers and a welder to make bracelets for all of her girls, so they could actually go outside._

_The first one she made went to Rachel, who smiled so wide and hugged Siobhan around her neck and didn’t let go. Before, they were only allowed to go out to their fire escape and only one at a time. That was their only source of sunlight. Being able to go out and walk around, without having to worry about who saw them or where they went changed everything._

Rachel sits at the head of the table, while the rest start laying down dishes of food all over the kitchen table. They always eat their meals together. It’s their opportunity to hear about the outside world and what they did at work, who they talked to, where they went. Each sister has a day assigned to them and that’s the day of the week they get to go out. Rachel is Monday, Cosima is Tuesday, Helena is Wednesday, and so on.

After they finish eating dinner, Rachel moves to the other end of the table and syncs her bracelet with their computer system, so she can show her sisters all of the recorded video from the day. When they get to the incident with Rudy, Sarah scoffs and spits in the direction of the projected images.

“That guy is such a wanker. I hate him.”

Helena throws a butter knife at the man’s face and the image fades. They all sit around the table; Rachel looks at Krystal and sneers.

“Felix says you came in early Sunday morning and vomited in the planter.”

Krystal shrugs and runs a hand through her blonde hair. “It was a good clubbing night, what can I say?”

Rachel slams her hand on the table. “Everything you do reflects on the rest of us. I am the one trying to get us a promotion. I am the one doing all of the work, while the rest of you reap the benefits.”

Sarah cuts in, “Oi, we’re all pulling our weight here.”

“That’s right, we all have our part to play,” Mika says meekly.

Rachel takes a deep breath. “Tomorrow is a big day and I really think you should all let me have an extra day just to make sure we get that promotion.”

The other siblings all protest in unison, saying it’s Cosima’s day and she’s perfectly capable of doing the presentation. Rachel pushes herself away from the table and stands straight up.

“Fine,” she says. “Don’t come crying to me when Rudy gets my… _our_ promotion.”

She walks to the bathroom and removes the wig that all of the siblings wear, to make their look uniform. She wipes off her make-up, disrobes, and climbs into the shower.

Alison walks up to Cosima, who has been upset ever since Rachel asked for an extra day. She was now second-guessing her ability to present their project.

“Don’t you listen to Rachel. You know how she is. Ever since S put into her head that she’s firstborn, she’s wanted to control the rest of us. You can do this.” 

Cosima nods and pushes her glasses up her face. The girls say their goodnights and Rachel goes to bed in her corner without a word to anyone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know if people have the patience to wait for weekly or bi-weekly updates anymore. Some chapters might be fun to wait for. Let me know!


	2. Love You 'Til Tuesday

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I'm an impatient mofo and I'm just going to post the whole thing. Hope you enjoy the rest of the fic!

Cosima’s alarm wakes her from her slumber; she was so anxious about work that she barely slept. She climbs out of bed and starts her weekly routine – she scans her face for new blemishes or things she needs to cover up. The screen blinks and shows her all of her flaws, particularly her glasses. She removes them and puts her contacts in. Foundation is next, then make-up, which she hates wearing, but they all need to look the same. Sarah peeks into the bathroom and takes the wig that’s hanging off the foam sphere. She sets it on top of Cosima’s skullcapped head and pins it down.

“You ready, sis?” Sarah asks.

Cosima takes a deep breath. “Sure, I totes got this.”

Everyone but Rachel lines up to give Cosima a hug and wish her good luck. Cosima picks up the briefcase that Rachel left by the door and leaves the apartment. She descends in the elevator and steps out. A familiar voice comes from the security station.

“How can I begin anything new with all of yesterday in me?”

Cosima smiles. “Leonard Cohen again, Felix?”

“Yeah, you got it!” Felix exclaims excitedly.

Cosima exits the building and starts heading to work. She gets to the checkpoint and the same guard from the day before is there. He leers a little too long for Cosima’s liking, but she ignores it and continues walking. She gets to her office and starts mentally preparing for her presentation when the administrative assistant walks in. She’s tall, slender, and has the most luscious blonde hair.

“Bonjour, Ms. Childs. I have your coffee.”

Cosima looks up and takes the mug. She gives the woman a warm smile.

“Thank you, Delphine.”

The blonde woman looks slightly taken aback and stares at Cosima and Cosima notices the gaze coming from the other woman.

“Is everything okay?” she asks.

“Oui, it’s just… you don’t call me by my first name very often, ma’am. I am not used to it.”

Cosima laughs nervously. “Oh, right. Well, I was just trying something new, I guess.”

Delphine nods and turns to leave the office. Cosima calls after her.

“Say, Delphine, would you like to, maybe, grab a drink after work tonight?” Cosima’s heart races. Ever since she and her sisters started their job there, she has had her sights on Delphine. Same sex relationships tended to be more readily accepted, since there was less of a likelihood that a child would be born, but she never knew where Delphine stood. Every week, Cosima would walk into the office and look for Delphine and every week, she wanted to ask her out, but never mustered up the courage. Tuesdays were always her favorite day, not because she got to leave the apartment, but because it’s when she got to see _her_.

The blonde turns around a grins widely, smile lines forming at the corners of her lips. “I thought you would never ask; I would love to,” she answers. “Meet in the lobby after work?”

Cosima nods enthusiastically, overflowing with newfound confidence. She’s definitely ready for her presentation now. On her way to the boardroom, she runs into Rudy, who just finished his presentation.

“Nailed it,” he says while shoulder-checking Cosima. “Get ready to congratulate me on Monday.”

She rolls her eyes and enters the boardroom, where her superiors are all sitting. She begins her presentation and goes over every point that she practiced in front of her sisters. It goes well and she leaves the boardroom with an extra hop in her step. When the clock strikes five, she packs up her things and rushes down to the lobby, where Delphine is already waiting for her.

“Ready?” Delphine asks.

“Always,” Cosima answers, offering her arm, so Delphine can link hers in. Delphine does so and they walk out of the building together. The bar is a few blocks and one checkpoint away. They arrive at the crowded building and find two stools to sit on. Cosima orders them a couple of beers. The two begin talking and Cosima realizes this is the first time she’s had an actual conversation with someone other than her sisters. Cosima is immediately infatuated with Delphine. The gentle knee touches whenever Delphine tells a story, every time the blonde throws her head back in laughter when Cosima tells a joke all makes Cosima’s heart beat a little faster.

Three beers and four shots later, the pair head back to Delphine’s place; Cosima had insisted on walking her back. They’re still talking and laughing, their hands interlocked and swinging between them. When they arrive at Delphine’s, the blonde stops.

“This is me,” she says wistfully. “Would you like to come up?

Cosima swallows hard and checks her watch. It’s almost 2am. “I really, really would, but I can’t tonight,” she replies regretfully. Delphine looks disappointed, but nods in understanding.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, then?” she asks, hopefully.

Cosima clenches her jaw and nods, knowing that it will be another week before she sees Delphine again. The blonde steps up close to Cosima and leans down to kiss each side of the brunette’s cheeks and the second kiss is dangerously close to her mouth.

“Goodnight, Beth,” Delphine says as she unlocks her front door and disappears.

Cosima chuckles to herself and practically runs home, eager to tell her sisters what happened.

* * *

“Are you out of your mind?” Rachel exclaims. “You do realize this makes things harder on all of us, right? The rest of us don’t care about your little girlfriend.”

“Chill out, Rachel,” Sarah interjects. “We just need to be more careful.”

Rachel scoffs and stands uncomfortably close to Sarah. “You of all people should remember that what happens to one of us affects us all.” She holds up her index finger that is missing its tip.

_As the girls grew up, Siobhan taught them basic math and other school subjects at home. She noticed that they all had different strengths – Cosima loved it when they learned about animals and science, Helena loved learning about history, Sarah was the rebellious one of the group and found it difficult sitting still during their lessons, Alison, Krystal, and Mika dutifully studied as they’re told, and Rachel… Rachel excelled at everything. She was a perfectionist and Siobhan suspected it was because she was firstborn._

_One day, when Siobhan was out walking Rachel to her first day of school, the other girls were busy with their studies and Sarah sneaked out one of the windows of the apartment and descended the fire escape. No one realized she was gone until Siobhan came home with Rachel and only counted five other children._

_“None of you saw her leave?” she interrogated the girls. They all looked at each other and shook their heads. Later that evening, there was a knock at the door. Siobhan signaled for the girls to run off into the tiny room that she built in of one of the apartment walls, where all but one girl hides whenever there’s someone at the door. They all clean up their things and tidy up like clockwork before hiding and Siobhan closed the door behind them while Rachel stayed behind and sat at a table, acting like she was completing homework._

_Siobhan grabbed a gun from a locked safe under her bed and slowly opened the door. Sarah was standing there with a bloody cloth wrapped around her hand._

_“I… I just wanted to go outside,” she explained with tears in her eyes. Siobhan unwrapped the child’s hand and gasped when she saw the tip of her index finger hanging on by the sinews. She cleaned the wound as best she could, but now she had one of the most difficult decisions she would have to make for the rest of the children._

_They all needed to be identical. The other six would also need to lose the tips of their fingers._

_Siobhan had them all line up, Rachel first. She saw the fear in the poor child’s eyes. She said, calmly, “I need you to be strong for your sisters, Rachel. You’re the oldest. I’m counting on you.” She then announced to the other children that everything that happens to one of them happens to all of them._

_Siobhan sterilized a large knife over the stove fire and wiped the tip of Rachel’s finger with an alcohol swab. She kissed the top of Rachel’s head and told her to take a deep breath and to close her eyes. Rachel kept her eyes wide open while her grandmother lowered the blade to her tiny finger and chopped. The shriek that came from the girl’s mouth would haunt Siobhan for the rest of her life._

“I remember,” Sarah spits back. “You never let me forget.”

Rachel storms off and Cosima walks up to Sarah, begging her not to do anything to ruin her chances with Delphine. Sarah says she can’t make any promises, but she won’t be rude. Cosima figures that’s the best she’s going to get and leaves it alone. She hopes to every deity that Delphine still likes her by next Tuesday.


	3. Waiting For Wednesday

Helena wakes up and starts punching and kicking a punching bag. She wakes up extra early every morning to exercise, even on her work days. She knows that someone in the group has to protect the rest of the siblings, so she took it upon herself to train day and night. She studied martial arts from videos online and watched old mixed martial arts fights, practicing submission holds on a rubber training dummy that the girls had pitched in to buy her one birthday.

After her workout, Helena showers and gets ready. Her sisters help her get ready, as applying make-up is not in her wheelhouse. When she leaves the apartment, she walks straight to work, keeping her head down and not making eye contact with anyone. When she gets to the checkpoint, Paul smiles at her.

“Good morning, Ms. Childs,” he says with a wink.

Helena looks straight ahead and says nothing.

Paul’s smile fades as Beth’s photo comes up on the screen. “Go ahead.”

Helena arrives at the same time as Rudy and they ride the elevator up together.

“Heard your presentation went well,” he says, sarcastically.

Helena balls her fists and says nothing.

Rudy continues speaking. “You know, when I get that promotion, I’ll be sure to send you some flowers, or something. What kind do you like? Perhaps some roses. They use those for funerals, don’t they? It’ll be like the death of your career.”

Helena growls and lunges at Rudy, throwing him into the wall of the elevator. She sticks the tip of a pocket knife up to his neck.

“You will stop talking,” she says in a low voice.

Rudy’s eyes are as wide as saucers and he’s holding his hands up in surrender. When the doors open, Helena releases him and walks out as if nothing happens. Rudy straightens his tie and yells in her direction.

“I know who you are!”

Helena sits at her desk and gets to work; Delphine walks in with her morning coffee and sets it down on the table.

“Good morning, Ms. Childs.”

Helena gives a tiny nod, but doesn’t say anything. Delphine waits a few seconds longer and then turns to leave. Helena can hear her sigh when she walks out the door.

Out of all seven children, Helena was always the quiet one; she never spoke unless spoken to. Siobhan suspected that it was because Helena was born third, in the middle of the work week – like she was the middle child of the group, so she took on the more introverted and resolved characteristics. It was fine by her; she never felt the need to converse about nothing for hours. She said something whenever she needed to, whenever it was important.

_Siobhan had to teach the girls how to adapt and get acclimated to the outside world gradually. She started slowly, walking each girl to school on their day, to get them used to the routine. Helena would cling to Siobhan’s side; she hated being around the other children. They were loud and always running around, pushing other kids around._

_One day, a group of boys walked up to her while she was eating her sandwich for lunch. One of the boys slapped her sandwich to the ground and called her a weirdo. She soon realized that the other girls were getting bullied by the same group of boys every day at school. Rage boiled inside of her, but she didn’t attack. Not yet. There were too many people around._

_After school was over, she saw the boy who called her a weirdo on the sidewalk, alone, waiting for his parents to come pick him up. She walked up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around._

_"What do you want, weirdo?”_

_Helena punched him square in the nose and when he fell backward, she jumped on top of him and started clawing at his face, scratching, until one of the teachers ran over and pulled her off. She screamed and thrashed and had to be held down by two adults._

_By the time Siobhan arrived to pick up Helena, the girl had calmed down and was sitting on the curb. She scowled and looked straight ahead, no looking at anyone and not saying a word. The only thing that Siobhan saw was Helena’s bloody hands and rushed over. She asked what happened and the teacher explained what she saw. The older woman apologized for Helena’s actions, but also said that she didn’t apologize for what happened, only the way it happened. The teachers needed to do something about the bullying._

_When the two of them got home, she said all of the girls down around the table and had to explain to them that there were some things that they just wouldn’t be able to control and one of those things was the actions of others. The only thing they could do was control themselves and their own actions, and sometimes, they would have to make difficult decisions to not act on their emotions._

_Helena spoke for the first time all day, saying that she was protecting her sisters. Siobhan kneeled down next to her and put her hand over the young girl’s. She said she understood and that she wasn’t upset, but the more attention they draw to themselves, the more danger they’re in. So, the main way to protect herself and her sisters was to keep a low profile, live life normally, and not try to claw little boys’ eyes out, no matter how rude they are._

When the workday is over, Helena leaves her office and as she’s walking toward the elevator, she sees Rudy already inside and instead of holding the door open for her, he pushes the button to close the doors. Helena could easily snap his neck, but she decides that leaving the competition for Rachel would be more entertaining.

Instead of waiting for the elevator to come back up, Helena starts climbing down the twelve flights of stairs. She goes straight home and has dinner with her sisters. When it’s time to have their nightly meeting and report of the day’s happenings, Helena shows them what happened inside of the elevator.

Rachel sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose.

“Did I not just say that we need to keep a low profile? You know drawing attention makes things exponentially harder.”

“He would not stop talking,” Helena counters, balling her hands into fists.

“What does he mean ‘I know who you are’?” Krystal asks. “Do you think he knows we’re siblings?”

“I will take care of him,” Helena says.

“No, you will not,” Rachel argues, circling the table. “No one is doing a damn thing. I’ll go to work on Monday and clean up everyone’s mess, as usual. Sarah, don’t fuck anything up tomorrow.” She takes her leave and heads to her room, which is just a partitioned part of the apartment, using a bookshelf as a wall.

The rest of the sisters continue sitting around the table, talking.

“Well, Miss Buzzkillington does kind of have a point,” Alison argues. “The more we draw attention to ourselves, the more people look at us, and the more dangerous it gets. If this Rudy fellow does suspect we’re siblings, we need to make sure his claim can never be proven.”

As much as she hates to admit it, Sarah knows that Alison and Rachel have a point, and as much as it goes against her nature, she’ll fall in line and make sure they get that promotion come Monday. They’ve come too far to let it go to anyone else.


	4. Thursday's Child

Sarah is shaken awake by Mika, who tells her she’s running late. Sarah bolts up and gets ready. Alison and Helena help her with the wig and Cosima hands her the briefcase on her way out the door. Heels are ridiculously difficult to run in and she nearly rolls her ankle walking up to the checkpoint. The same guard is there, yet again, and gives Sarah a wink. She smirks and winks back. The guard tells Sarah she’s free to go and watches her rush off, not able to contain his own smile.

In the office, Sarah throws her briefcase down and starts working. Delphine walks in with coffee and waits. Sarah looks up.

“Oh, thank you, Ms. Cormier. You can set it down on the corner, there.”

Delphine looks a little dejected. “We are back to formalities?”

Sarah clears her throat. “Oh, uh, sorry… Delphine. Thank you for the coffee.”

Delphine walks up to the desk and sets the mug down. She trails her fingers across the desk slowly and slides over to Sarah’s side. “I had a really nice time Tuesday night,” she says quietly. She leans down to speak into Sarah’s ear. “I’d like to do it again sometime.”

Sarah feels body stiffen when she feels Delphine’s breath. “Yeah, sure. Um, I’m pretty booked up for the next few days. Can we do it again next Tuesday?”

Delphine stands up straight and gives a gentle smile. “Of course, if that’s what works for you.” She leaves without another word and Sarah lets out a deep breath. She doesn’t know how long she and the rest of the siblings are going to be able to keep the charade up – Rachel, especially. For the most part, the siblings have all had each other’s backs, but lately, Rachel has been doing things for herself and the work promotion has only made things worse. She spends every night scolding the rest of them for not doing enough and insults Krystal and Alison for never having to do any hard work. They’ve discussed switching days, so some of them finally get to go out on the weekends, but decided it would be too dangerous and it would throw everything off.

On her way home, Sarah takes a different route than her sisters do and as she passes an alleyway, she’s pulled into it and held from behind. She struggles and tries to resist when she’s turned around and shushed. It’s the guard from the checkpoint.

“Paul, what the hell?” Sarah says, pushing him away from her.

“I’m sorry, baby. I’ve missed you,” he replies, leaning in to kiss Sarah. Sarah kisses back and pulls them deeper into the alley, out of sight. Paul hastily unbuttons Sarah’s pants and pushes her up against the wall, lifting her up so that her legs can wrap around his waist. He unbuttons his own pants and lowers them below his hips.

This is their relationship – quick fucks in alleys or bar restrooms, sometimes in the back of Paul’s CAB car. They’ve been seeing each other every Thursday for the past few months and they don’t question it or label it, and Paul just accepts it.

When they’re finished, they get dressed and Sarah walks out of the alley with Paul following.

“Can I see you again tomorrow?” Paul asks.

Sarah shakes her head. “We’ve talked about this. Thursdays only.”

Paul lowers his head. “Look, if it’s because you’re already married, or whatever, that’s okay. I just want to see you more often.”

Sarah sighs. “It’s not that. It’s… it’s complicated.” She looks at her watch. “I gotta go. See you next week?”

“Sure,” Paul answers. There’s nothing else he can do, so he agrees.

On the way home, Sarah passes some commotion. She walks up to the crowd of people and she sees CAB officers pulling a woman out into the street, along with a young girl and a boy. All of them are crying and the CAB officer throws the girl into the back of a car. Sarah pushes a button on her bracelet and begins recording everything.

A man from the crowd throws a glass bottle at the officers and others start shouting, calling them all sorts of names and vulgarities. One of the officers takes out a baton and starts beating the crowd down without hesitation. Sarah narrowly escapes a baton coming down in her direction and slides through the crowd.

When she gets home, she shows her siblings the footage and they all sit around the table in silence, knowing that could happen to any, or all, of them.

“This is such bullpoopie,” Alison exclaims. “How can they just tear families apart like that?”

“Well, technically, it’s against the law to be a sibling,” Mika answers, quietly.

Rachel stands up. “This is exactly why we need to be more careful. One slip-up and we’re done. Off to cryo-sleep. Keep to yourselves at work, come home immediately after. It’s the only way.”

“You can do what you want; I still plan on going out on my nights,” Krystal contests.

Rachel rushes up to Krystal and puts a hand up to her sister’s throat, squeezing hard. “Do you think this is a joke? If you fuck up one time, stay out all night and don’t come home, get too drunk and spill your guts, you’ve fucked the rest of us.” Sarah pulls Rachel away.

“Jesus, Rachel. Let’s all cool down. Krystal, please just… make sure you come home on time, yeah?”

Krystal rubs her neck, which is now pink from the pressure of Rachel’s hand against it, and nods in agreement.

Sarah goes to sit on the couch and Cosima joins her. They’ve always been closer to each other than the rest. Cosima was the one who assured Sarah that it wasn’t her fault that they all now had shorter index fingers. She understood that the urge and the want to go outside on other days was unbearable sometimes.

Sarah smirks a little. “So, you and Delphine, huh?”

Cosima blushes. “Yeah, I really like her, sis. I think I’ve liked her ever since I first laid eyes on her.”

“Well, I think the feeling is mutual. She wants to see you again.”

Cosima’s eyes widen and she sits up straighter, leaning in closer to Sarah. “Really?”

Sarah nods. “I agreed to meet up again next Tuesday.” Cosima throws her arms around her sister’s neck and hugs her tight.

“Thanks, you’re the best,” Cosima says, “I owe you one.”

Sarah hums, taking time to think about something. “Maybe there is something you can help me with.”

“Anything,” Cosima replies.

“You know that guard who’s always in front of the bank? He and I… you know,” Sarah shrugs.

Cosima gasps and puts a hand in front of her mouth. “No! You and that guy?”

Sarah shushes her sister. “It kind of just happened. It’s not like I’m in love with him; we just have sex once a week.”

Cosima stifles a laugh. “Okay, fair enough. What do you need me to do?”

“I don’t know. I guess be nice to him when you see him? He seems decent… for a CAB officer, anyway.”

“You got it,” Cosima agrees. “He’s going to be super confused on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, though. Maybe that’s Rachel’s problem – she just needs to get laid.”

They both burst into laughter and Cosima leans her head on her sister’s shoulder. Sarah puts her arm around Cosima, hugging her close.

“I’m scared, Sarah.”

“There’s nothing to be afraid of; I’ll protect us.”

But who will protect them from Rachel’s ambition, Cosima wonders. In all of the 30 years they’ve been alive together, no one has ever laid a hand on another sibling, but seeing Rachel choke Krystal made her think that Rachel was capable of anything. She was terrified that she would do something to deliberately ruin her chances with Delphine, out of spite and self-preservation. 

Many of the sisters didn’t know what it was to be loved or to love another – at least, not in a non-platonic way. Alison read about it in romance novels and Mika had seen things online, but the rest never explored it, until now. It terrified and excited Cosima at the same time. She didn’t know if what she felt for Delphine was love, or what love even felt like, but she wanted to find out. She was ready. She was ready to fall and hoped Delphine would be there to catch her.

They all collectively agree to keep their heads down and do their work, aiming for the promotion. Mika finishes her day at work on Friday with no issues. She checks in with the bank manager, making sure the decision for the promotion will be made on Monday, which the manager confirms. On Saturday, Krystal goes out to her usual spot and comes home at midnight, which is when they all agreed to come home on their day. On Sunday, Alison went to church in the morning and helped clean afterwards and the rest of the weekend was uneventful.

That night, everyone was anxious about the next day, when they would hear about the promotion. Rachel didn’t join the rest of the group for dinner that night. She just stayed in her room. Mika left her a plate of food near the bookshelf wall, but it went untouched.

“Do you think we’ll get the promotion?” Cosima asks.

“I guarantee that we’ll get it,” Sarah replies. “We’ve worked too long and hard for it to go to an asshole like Rudy.”

When it’s time for everyone to go to bed, they disperse and do their nightly routine. Cosima and Sarah’s beds are next to each other, but Cosima is having trouble falling asleep. Cosima raises herself on her arm and looks over.

“Hey, Sarah? You awake?”

Sarah mumbles something inaudible. “Yeah, what’s up?”

“I can’t stop thinking about Delphine. I wish I could see her more than once a week.”

Sarah looks over to her sister. “I know the feeling, but this is the way it is. We can’t risk getting caught.”

Cosima is quiet for a while. “I know. I just… I’ve never felt this way about anyone before – this overwhelming feeling of wanting to be around her all the time, seeing her face whenever I close my eyes.”

Sarah chuckles. “Yeah, well, I imagine being able to think about someone other than six siblings, who look just like you, is a nice change of pace.”

Cosima smiles and lies back. “I guess you’re right. Goodnight, sis.”

Cosima lets sleep take her and she dreams of a beautiful blonde woman, who tells her that she thinks of her every day of the week, not just Tuesdays.


	5. I Don't Like Mondays

Rachel wakes up extra early and gets ready for work. She mindlessly goes through her morning routine: face scan, make-up, wig, clothes, briefcase, checkpoint, bank. She left before any of her sisters woke up, ignoring everyone and everything until she got to her office. She closes the door behind her and sits down. She pulls out a mirror from her purse and checks her face and her hair. Impeccable.

When the rest of the siblings wake up, they all start on their daily chores and routines. They wait for Rachel to call about the promotion, but the call never comes. Hours pass and it’s way past when Rachel should have gotten off work. Sarah starts pacing around the apartment and asks Mika to track Rachel’s bracelet.

“Her GPS is off.”

Sarah walks over to the computer. “What do you mean it’s off?”

Mika rotates the screen, so Sarah can see it better. “Look, I can’t ping her.”

Alison walks up nervously. “Do you think something happened to her?”

Sarah puts her hands on her hips and looks down at the floor, shaking her head. “No, let’s wait a little while longer before jumping to conclusions. Maybe her bracelet is busted.”

More time passes and the siblings are starting to get nervous when Rachel still hasn’t come home. She’s never missed a group meeting before. Mika still can’t ping Rachel’s GPS and their calls aren’t going through.

“We panic now?” Helena asks from behind the punching bag.

“Maybe she went out for a drink after work,” Cosima suggests.

“It’s past midnight. She was the one who said to be home by curfew,” Sarah replies. 

They all decide to go to sleep and continue with the rotation, so it’s Cosima’s day next. She’ll go to work as if nothing happened and see if she can find anything out.

** Tuesday **

The next day, Cosima gets dressed and goes down to the lobby. She’s stopped by Felix, who tells her that he didn’t see her come home the night before.

“Oh, uh, I had a late night. Celebrating a promotion, came in after hours.”

Felix nods and tells Cosima to have a good day. She leaves the building and heads toward work. At the checkpoint, Paul gives her a small smile before she scans her bracelet. Cosima smiles back and hurries through when her face shows on the screen. When she gets up to her office, she sits at the desk and starts searching through the e-mails and files.

Delphine walks in and slams the coffee cup down on the corner of the desk and turns to leave.

“Delphine?” Cosima calls out softly. Delphine stops, but doesn’t turn around to face Cosima. Her hands are stiff at her sides.

“Oh, now you’re talking to me?” Delphine says finally. Cosima stands up and closes her office door. She takes one of Delphine’s hands in her own and pulls her to the side of the room that’s away from the door.

“I’m sorry for acting weird. I’ve had a lot on my plate with the promotion and everything. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

Delphine shrugs. “Who said I’m hurt? We’ve gone out one time; it’s no big deal.”

Cosima can tell Delphine is lying, because she’s looking away while she’s speaking. She looks tired, or perhaps like she’s been crying. Her eyes don’t have the same spark they usually do. Cosima thinks back to the first day she stepped into the bank. Delphine was there to greet her with a coffee every week on Tuesday. She imagined she still did it on other days, too, but Tuesday was her day – _their_ day. She would come up with any reason to call her into her office – needing a new pen, needing new printer ink, ordering lunch and would tell Delphine to order something for herself and they would occasionally eat together.

Cosima reaches up to cup Delphine’s face in her hands and turns her head, so it’s facing the brunette’s. She brings Delphine’s face down to catch her lips between her own, stroking Delphine’s cheeks gently with her thumbs. Delphine holds onto Cosima’s arms to steady herself. She feels a moan escape her throat when Cosima deepens the kiss and pulls her in further by the back of her neck.

_Siobhan dreaded this day. She had thought about how to approach the subject and went over it in her head millions of times. How could she explain it to seven children? Not only that, how could she explain it to seven girls, who only went outside once a week? Regardless, they needed to know._

_Sex. Intercourse. The birds and the bees._

_She sat the children down in the living room and took a deep breath._

_"Okay, girls, when you get older, your body is going to start changing…”_

_She continued the talk, explaining adolescence and puberty. She told them about attraction and told them to be careful and protect their hearts and their bodies, because not everyone was going to be careful with it. After Siobhan finished the talk, Cosima stayed behind and looked troubled. The older woman sat next to her and asked what was wrong._

_Cosima began to cry and said she was different from her sisters and didn’t know why. Siobhan inquired and asked what she meant. Cosima said that her sisters all looked at photos of boys on the computer, but she would rather look at photos of girls. Siobhan hugged Cosima close and explained that it’s possible to be attracted to men and women and that it’s perfectly normal to be attracted to either, or both and that there was nothing wrong with her. The lesson about protecting her heart still stood and when Cosima found the right person – man or woman – she would know._

When Cosima pulls away, her eyes still halfway closed, she wishes Siobhan was still there, so she could tell her that she thinks she’s found her person. No, she _knew._

“I’ve wanted to do that since the first day I started working here,” Cosima admits, smiling sheepishly.

Delphine smiles back. “As have I.” She then remembers the reason why she was upset in the first place. “But explain to me why you have really been so distant? It’s not the promotion, because you knew you had that… in the purse? Is that the saying?

Cosima smiles. “In the bag. So, I did get the promotion over Rudy?”

Delphine looks at Cosima quizzically. “Well, yes. You went out to celebrate with the boys last night. Rudy was there.”

“Um, do you remember where I went? Everything is kind of fuzzy.”

Delphine touches Cosima’s forehead with the back of her hand. “Beth, are you okay? You went to the same bar you and I went to last week.”

Cosima shakes her head. “Oh, yes, of course.” She takes a deep breath. “Look, Delphine, I know I said we would go out tonight, but there’s something really important that I need to take care of. I will make it up to you, though, I promise.” She hates lying, and especially hates lying to Delphine. Siobhan always tried to tell the girls that what they’re doing isn’t lying so much as surviving. They have to keep their cover as Beth Childs, otherwise there’s no way they can all exist in the outside world.

Delphine furrows her brow.  “Is it something I can help with?”

Cosima shakes her head. “No, unfortunately it isn’t.” She walks back to her desk and sits down in the chair. Delphine starts walking toward the office door to open it and starts short.

“Beth, I think I know what this is about.”

Cosima looks up, eyes slightly widened. “You do?” Delphine knows. She knows she’s a sibling.

Delphine nods and walks back up to the desk. “I overheard you and Rudy one day at the elevators. He’s blackmailing you for something, isn’t he?”

Cosima wrinkles her forehead and mutters under her breath. “That asshole.” She stands up from her desk and walks over to Delphine. She gives her a chaste kiss on the cheek and apologetically tells her she has to go, but she would talk to her soon. She leaves the bank building and has Mika send her Rachel’s GPS information and everywhere she went the previous day. She follows it to the bar from the night before and calls her sisters.

“Guys, I think Rudy knows about us. Delphine said that he was blackmailing us for something, but I don’t know what for exactly. I’m heading toward the bar no—”

Cosima’s video feed gets cut off and leaves the other siblings looking at a blank screen.

“Cos?” Sarah calls out. “What happened, Mika?”

Mika types some commands into the keyboard, but the call is still dropped. “I don’t know. It’s like her communications just got cut off. I can’t call her back and now her GPS is gone.”

“What the hell is going on?” Sarah says, asking no one in particular.

“Uh, guys?” Krystal says, peering out of the window. “We’ve got a problem.”


	6. Tuesday's Gone

The remaining siblings look out the window after Krystal says they have a problem. They’re surrounded by dozens of CAB officers and the head of security, Ferdinand Chevalier. The first wave rushes into the building and they hear a gunshot in the lower levels, possibly the lobby. They all rush into the hidden room, Helena stays outside to close the door. She opens the safe that Siobhan kept the gun in, but when she opens it, there’s nothing there.

Helena finds a knife in the kitchen and hides behind the counter. She waits until she hears the footsteps in front of their door. There are beeps coming from the keypad and a short pause. The door unlocks and four men slowly enter with their guns up. They split up and start knocking things over; one of the officers throws books off of the bookshelf and sees the button for the hidden room. He signals to the other officers, who point their guns at the far wall, while the first officer pushes the button.

The door slides open and Sarah, Mika, Krystal, and Alison all huddle together.

“Look at them hiding like rats,” one of the officers jokes. “Come out, little rats.”

The siblings all walk out of the room slowly with their hands up. Krystal and Alison are crying and Sarah’s face shows nothing but rage. One of the officers grabs Mika by her shoulder and pulls her forward.

Another officer speaks into his radio and asks if they’re supposed to exterminate. The voice on the other side says to wait. Helena, still watching everything from behind the counter, holds the knife close to her chest. When the voice on the other side of the radio says there’s supposed to be five siblings, the officers look at each other after counting the four girls in front of them.

The men hold up their guns, pointing them at each of the girls’ heads.

 “Where’s the fifth one?” one of the officers asks.

“Go fuck yourself,” Sarah retorts. Just as the main began to squeeze his trigger, Helena lunges out and slices the nearest officer behind his kneecap, causing him to crumple over in pain. Helena grabs the gun and tries firing it, but it won’t shoot. She holds the injured officer up in front of herself as a shield while the other officers fire into him.

Sarah grabs the barrel of the gun of an officer near her and pushes the butt of the gun into his face, causing him to recoil backwards. She kicks him in the abdomen and he flies across the coffee table. She realizes that sparring with Helena helped a lot more than she thought. Mika jumps on the back of one of the officers, but he easily throws her off of him. Alison and Krystal find whatever they can and start throwing heavy objects in the officers’ general direction.

An officer swings his gun behind his back and puts his fists up when faced with Helena. Helena swings at him and he dodges, countering with a shot to her ribs. She elbows him in the side of the head and kicks him behind the kneecap, so he falls to his knees. He scoops Helena up under her leg and tosses her over his head. She gets thrown into one of the shelves and it crashes to the ground.

The officer that Sarah kicked gets back up and swings at her, hitting her in the face. Sarah’s head whips to the right and she can taste the metallic liquid that begins flowing from her mouth. The officer swings again, but Sarah is able to block it and pushes her palm into his jaw, causing his head to get thrown back. She then punches his throat and he begins choking. Sarah grabs the back of his head and brings her knee up to meet it, knocking him unconscious.

The officer facing off with Krystal and Alison is getting fed up with having things thrown at him, so he draws his weapon and just as he’s about to shoot, Sarah hits him over the head with a skillet, also knocking him unconscious.

Helena gets up from floor, picking up the knife a few feet away. The last remaining officer sees that he’s outnumbered and runs out the front door. Sarah looks out the window and sees the next three waves of officers running into the building.

“We need to leave. Now,” she commands. They run toward the hidden room and Sarah and Helena start breaking the wooden boards, just enough so they can fit through to the next room. One by one, they exit their apartment into the next room and race toward the fire escape.

Helena, Sarah, Alison, and Krystal make their way down the ladder and Mika pulls it back up.

“Mika, what are you doing? Get down here!” Alison yells.

“You guys go. I’ll take care of the officers.” She drops a tablet down to them and it lands in Sarah’s hands. “I’ll upload what I can. Sarah, you sync your bracelet with that guard you know. And before you ask, of course I know about him.”

Sarah realizes what she’s doing and shouts, “Mika, no!” But it’s too late; Mika is already running back into their apartment. She starts the data transfer and turns on the stove, pulling out the gas line, so gas leaks throughout the room. She throws aerosol cans into the microwave and turns it on. Footsteps echo down the hall and officers flood into the apartment. When they see Mika standing in the middle of the room, they all draw their weapons.

“Siblings will rise,” Mika says and smiles.

When the officers see why she’s smiling, they try running out of the apartment, but Mika has already flicked a lighter to life and tosses it toward the stove at the same time that the cans in the microwave catch fire.

The explosion shakes the entire block. The other siblings are thrown to the ground, but are still far enough away from the building that they don’t feel the heat coming from their apartment. Alison sits up and starts sobbing. Helena helps her up and everyone runs toward the maze of alleyways behind the building that used to be their home.

They try every door on their way through, but they’re all locked. While searching for escape, they pass laundry clotheslines and change into articles with better coverage, so they’re harder to distinguish. Sarah has everyone climb up the fire escape to another building all the way up to the roof, so they can at least catch their breath and figure out their next move.

“I can’t believe Mika is gone,” Krystal says through sobs. “And we don’t even know where Rachel and Cosima are or if they’re even alive.”

Alison consoles her as best she can while Sarah tries to figure out their next move. Helena hasn’t said a single word since the explosion and stares blankly in front of her.

Sarah stands up and begins pacing. Could she try getting to Paul? To Delphine? Cosima trusted the blonde, so maybe they could, too.

“We need to find out what Rudy has on us and then we need to find our sisters. I think figuring out what we’re being blackmailed with will be the key.”

“I will take care of irritating coworker,” Helena says finally.

“Okay, we need to avoid all checkpoints, and I may have an in with CAB.”

“What do you mean an in with CAB,” Alison prods.

“Just trust me. We’ll have to wait until tomorrow to know for sure, so let’s just concentrate on getting Rudy to talk.”

Helena puts her hood over her head and climbs down the fire escape. Sarah looks at the tablet and she’s able to ping Helena’s GPS signal. She sends the coordinates to Rudy’s loft to Helena. When she arrives, she finds Rudy’s door and knocks. The coworker opens the door and smirks.

“So, you ready to make that deal?”

Helena pulls out the knife that she still had from the apartment and grabs Rudy by the collar.

“You will tell me about deal. Now.”

Rudy holds up his hands and backs up. “Whoa, what the fuck?”

“Tell,” Helena repeats.

Rudy stammers. “I know about your money transfers to Leekie. I have everything on my tablet,” he points to the counter behind him. “You decline the promotion and I keep my mouth shut.”

Helena continues holding the knife in front of her while she edges her way to the counter and picks up the tablet. She searches through the data files and finds a contract that does indeed show that money from the bank they all work at was being transferred to Leekie for his campaign. As she scrolls through everything, there’s a sound of a crack and then Rudy freezes and falls to the ground.

Helena watches blood pool underneath him and dives behind a counter. More shots ring out, bullets piercing the windows, and leaving holes all over the loft. She quickly transfers the contract to Sarah and runs out of the loft, finding the stairs and climbs up to the roof.

She uses her bracelet to call her sisters and tells them Rudy is dead and she’s trying to find her way back to them, without being tracked. Sarah guides her through the roofs of different buildings; Helena is doing her best to base jump her way through them. When she makes the jump across one building to the next, Ferdinand emerges from one of the roof access doors with his gun pointing straight at Helena and the last thing she hears is a gunshot.


	7. Since Last Wednesday

Sarah, Alison, and Krystal hunker down and try to get some sleep, but it was hard to come by when they didn’t know what happened to Helena. They saw Ferdinand shoot at her, but the communication feed cut out after that.

She told Alison and Krystal to try and find Delphine and she was going to find Paul. Getting through checkpoints was going to be impossible with the CAB officers hunting them, so she sent her address coordinates to Paul under the blocked number that she and her sisters used to communicate with each other, saying she needed to see him, even though it wasn’t Thursday.

When Paul receives the message, he heads to the girls’ apartment and sees all of the rubble and the aftermath of the explosion. Officers are wheeling out a body bag and when he walks up to it, he sees Mika’s lifeless body.

“Beth?”

He watches as the body is lifted into the back of a CAB car and runs to his own car and climbs in. He can’t believe what he’s seen and leans his head on the steering wheel. He hears the passenger side door of his car open and he’s face-to-face with the dead woman that he just saw being thrown into a CAB car.

“What the hell is going on? I-I just saw you. You were dead.”

“Paul, listen to me. I don’t have much time. The person you saw was my sister and I think CAB is holding at least one other sister.”

Paul is quiet for a minute. “What... what are you saying? You’re a sibling?”

Sarah nods.

“I don’t believe this,” he pauses for a long while. “I was worried about you when I saw you, or at least I thought it was you, at the CAB office yesterday.”

“Wait, you saw me yesterday?” Sarah repeats. “When?”

“I don’t know, it was during my lunch break. Maybe one o’ clock? You, or whoever the hell it was, were being escorted by some officers.”

That would have been around the time Cosima would have been taken and likely processed. Sarah needed to figure out a way to get inside. She needed to save her sisters.

“Take me to CAB.”

* * *

Alison and Krystal stand outside of the bank building, out of sight from Sarah and Paul. There’s no way for them to get into the building without going through the checkpoint first, so they would have to wait. They decide that Alison looks the most like Cosima, since Krystal kept her hair dyed blonde and would be less conspicuous, so she would be the one to make contact.

They wait until the end of the work day and watch Delphine walk out the front door of the bank. She passes the checkpoint and heads down the street, amongst the sea of people. Alison and Krystal hide their faces as best they can and follow her.

They get to a five-story building and Delphine unlocks it. Alison rushes over and is able to wedge the door open and they sneak inside after her. When Delphine gets to her door, Alison tells Krystal to stay back ad she walks up.

“Delphine?”

The voice startles the blonde and she drops the things she was carrying in her arms. Alison steps forward and helps gather everything up.

“Beth? What are you doing here? Why haven’t you been at work? And why is your hair different?”

Alison looks behind her. “Can we... can we go inside? It’s not safe out here.”

Delphine opens the door and ushers Alison in. She lays her things down and takes whatever Alison picked up and puts in on a counter. She turns to face Alison.

“What’s this about, Beth? First, you don’t show up to work the day after the promotion is announced, then there was that big explosion.”

“I can’t explain everything right now, but I do need your help.”

Alison shows Delphine the contract that Helena sent them from Rudy’s tablet. She explains that this is why Rudy was blackmailing Beth and she needed Delphine to send a company-wide e-mail, along with the contract as an attachment, when she gives the signal. This will force the board to withdraw all of the funds already transferred to Leekie.

Delphine agrees and just as Alison is about to walk out the door, she asks, “Beth, do you love me?”

Alison looks back at her with sad, apologetic eyes, “Not today.”

* * *

Sarah activates her bracelet and sets it to sync with Paul’s while he drives. She watches the percentage tick up painfully slowly up to 100%. She sends a message to Alison and Krystal that it’s been done and they need to find a computer to check the CAB data. They make their way to the nearest library and find a computer in the back of the room.

They upload the data taken from Paul’s bracelet and there’s files on every sibling. Alison continues searching, until she finds a live video feed. She clicks on it and both she and Alison gasp when they see their sister in a small cell, alone and scared.

“Who is that?” Krystal asks.

Alison shakes her head. “I can’t tell. Her face is covered and they’ve got that hood over her head.”

They message Sarah, saying one of their siblings is still alive at CAB, but they don’t know which one it is.

Alison and Krystal continue watching the feed closely. They see a door open and a tall, thin, balding man walks in with another man with dark curly hair and glasses. They don’t have an audio feed, but they recognize one of the men as Aldous Leekie. Their sister curls up into a ball and turns away from both men.

* * *

Aldous Leekie sits in a chair, facing the sibling, who is still cowering in the corner of the room. He looks at her with disdain in his eyes and tells Ferdinand to wait outside. Once the other man leaves, Leekie leans forward and scoots his chair closer.

“Tell me where your sisters are and I’ll let you go to cryo-sleep. No more torture, no more pain.”

“Please,” the sibling replies. “I work at a bank; I can transfer you money if you just let me go.”

Leekie looks at her, amused, and tilts his head to the side. “Interesting. Your sister Rachel offered me the same exact thing. Don’t worry, Cosima, this will all be over soon.”

He stands up, pushes the chair back to the wall, and opens the door to leave. Outside of the room, he tells Ferdinand to dispose of Cosima and “the other one.”

Cosima feels a wave of fear wash over her and she starts to sob. She removes the hood from her head and buries her face in her hands.

Krystal gasps when she sees the familiar head of hair.

“It’s Cosima! She’s alive.”

They contact Sarah, who is nearly at CAB and let her know where Cosima is being held. She tells Paul where they need to go and climbs into an empty body bag. After Paul parks, he finds an unused gurney and puts Sarah on top of it. He starts wheeling it toward the front entrance and past the guards, telling them it’s the sibling from the apartment explosion from earlier that day. They nod, already expecting the body, and allow Paul to pass. 

He pushes the gurney through CAB, down narrow hallways and holds his breath whenever he passes another officer. They get to the cryo-sleep room, which is a circular room, painted in all white. The two people inside are also wearing all white. Paul pushes the gurney inside and one of the engineers angles the gurney, so the body is standing up vertically. Sarah slowly opens her eyes and looks out the clear plastic window. Both engineers are walking around the room when an officer brings in a young girl and has her stand inside of a pod in the middle of the room. Sarah starts recording everything from her bracelet.

The female engineer walks over to the girl and smiles as warmly as possible. She has a syringe in one hand.

“Will it hurt?” the girl asks.

The other woman shakes her head. “No, child, you won’t feel a thing.” She sticks the needle of the syringe into the girl’s arm and she winces. Soon after, the girl loses consciousness and the woman backs up, pushing a button to close the pod behind her. The man is sitting on a stool in front of a console and he starts pushing buttons. Smoke begins to fill the pod and Sarah thinks it’s the cryogenic freezing at first, but then she sees blue flames appear and the girl who was inside starts to char and becomes nothing but ash. The pod is laid flat and then turned over and dumped out – a fresh pod now on the opposite of the slab and opens.

Sarah watches in horror and Paul is watching from behind the door with his mouth agape. The doors to the room slide open once more and an unconscious woman with curly blonde hair is brought in. Sarah looks over and sees Helena being put into the open pod. Helena has a bandage over her shoulder, likely where she had been shot. Sarah unzips her body bag open all the way and pushes the woman away from Helena. Sarah is able to open the pod door and pull Helena out before the woman lunges at her with a new syringe. Sarah is backed into a wall and holds the woman’s arms away from herself while Paul fights off the two officers outside of the room. Sarah reaches out and grabs the woman’s neck, pushing her back to the opposite side of the room. She slams the woman’s hand into a wall until she drops the syringe.

Sarah head-butts the woman, whose head whips back, and she holds her nose in pain. The man is about to grab the syringe when Helena wakes up and gets to it before him. She stabs it into the man’s calf and pushes the stopper down all the way, causing the man to fall unconscious and he drops to the floor. Helena stands up and grabs the other woman by the neck in a headlock and throws her into the pod. She pushes the button to close it and the woman starts screaming, asking to be let out. As Helena walks over to the console to start the process, Sarah stops her hands.

“It’s more than they deserve, but there’s been enough death already.”

“They kill sestra Mika,” Helena says with rage in her voice.

“I know, meathead. Believe me, I know. But we need to be better than they are. We’ll do this the right way.”

Paul opens the door after subduing the other officers and looks at Sarah and Helena. He doesn’t quite know what to think, but he tells them they need to get going if they want to save their other sisters. Sarah tells Alison and Krystal that she has Helena and they’re heading to Cosima now. The girls direct them to Cosima’s cell and open the door.

Cosima is still huddled in the corner and hides her face away from whoever is at the door. Sarah rushes up to her and touches her shoulder; Cosima recoils and starts crying.

“Hey, Cos, it’s me.”

It takes her a few seconds to register whose voice it is and she turns slowly to face Sarah. Her lips quiver and she jumps into Sarah’s arms, hugging her tight, sobbing into her sister’s shoulder. After Cosima has had time to calm down, she tells Sarah that Rachel is behind all of it – the money transfers, the officers knowing where to find them, everything. She wants to be the only Beth Childs left.

“How could she do this to us?” Cosima whispers.

“She thinks she’s entitled to the identity, that selfish bitch.”

Sarah tells Paul to go with Cosima and Helena to find the server room. She transfers her video of the young girl to all of them and tells them to upload the feed to every screen in the building. Cosima asks where she’s going. Sarah sees a dress draped over a chair in the room next door and picks it up.

“I’m going to end this.” 


	8. End of the Week

Rachel sits in her room, which looks about ten times the size of the cell Cosima was in. It’s fully furnished and has everything she could ever want and if it doesn’t have something, all she has to do is ask for it.

_When Leekie walked into the bank a month prior, he sat down with a cocky and confident air about him, like Rudy, but not as fake. He was under the guise of a customer wanting to open an account with the bank, but when Rachel asked for his documentation, he slid a folder of papers across the desk. Rachel picked them up and looked at them, she saw photos of herself and her sisters. CAB had been spying on them in their apartment for weeks. Leekie said they were impressed by how long they were able to hide from them, but now they would be forced to terminate the siblings, because if the public knew that CAB was unable to locate these siblings for the past 30 years, the entire program falls apart._

_Rachel, using her natural survival instinct, offered Leekie money to aid his campaign in exchange for letting her stay alive and living as the sole Beth Childs. The plan would be that she “disappears” and the rest of the siblings would be forced to leave the apartment as Beth as to not raise suspicion and CAB could pick them off one-by-one, until they’re able to storm the apartment and terminate the rest. At first, Rachel feels immense guilt for turning on her sisters, but then she remembers that they’re all weak and she’s the one who deserves to live._

There’s a knock at Rachel’s door and she instructs them to enter. Ferdinand walks in and smirks at her.

“It’s almost time,” he says. He walks up to her and grips her by the chin, kissing her forcefully. Rachel’s jaw aches, but she returns the kiss and pushes Ferdinand onto the couch.

“Yes,” he hisses. Rachel straddles him and tears off his tie. She rips open his very expensive shirt and kisses him again, biting down hard on his lip. As she’s about to undo his pants, there’s another knock at her door.

“What?” she growls.

A CAB officer opens the door and, upon seeing the two of them on the couch, averts his eyes. “Um, sir, ma’am. There’s been a security breach.”

“Absolutely useless,” Rachel mutters as she stands up and flattens her skirt. “Where?”

The officer tells them where Sarah is and where Paul, Cosima, and Helena are heading. Rachel says she’ll take care of Sarah and Ferdinand should take a unit to the server room.

* * *

Sarah makes her way into a bathroom. She leans over a sink and splashes water on her face. Moments later, she hears the clicking of high heels on the tile floor. Without looking up, she says, “How could you? We’re your _family_.”

Rachel, who has Siobhan’s gun hanging at her side, shrugs. “Out of all of the siblings, I deserve to live. None of you would even be here without me.”

Sarah scoffs. “That’s such bullshit, Rachel. _You_ wouldn’t be here without us.”

_When the girls turned 19, Siobhan fell ill and there was nothing anyone could do. It was a slow, agonizing death, as well. A resistance doctor would come by daily and give Siobhan medicine to make her more comfortable, but she eventually succumbed to the illness._

_Since only one sibling could go to the funeral, Rachel insisted that she went. She recorded the whole thing, watched her grandmother get lowered into the ground and the dirt shoveled on top of her coffin. No one else was there, no other family, no friends who were comfortable being seen in public. It was just Rachel, the priest, and her dead grandmother._

_When Rachel returned from funeral, she became hardened. She realized that no one would ever be there for her or her sisters. They were on their own. Eventually, they would need to earn a living. Siobhan did what she could to prepare them for the real world, but they had never held a job in their lives._

_For the next ten years, they would go between jobs as bartenders, waitresses, and others that never went anywhere. When they turned 30, Rachel was so sick of just getting by. One day, she left without telling her sisters and climbed to the roof. She stepped up to the edge and looked down; it would be so easy to just jump. She wouldn’t have to hurt anymore, she wouldn’t have to worry about being found, but also, if she jumped, her sisters’ lives would also be over. She sat down, legs dangling over the edge._

_Tears started to stream down her face and she heard a voice behind her._

_“Rachel?”_

_It was Mika. Mika was always the quiet one – in a different way from Helena. She spoke, but when she did, it was never more than a whisper, never aggressive. She always seemed unsure of everything she said or did and Rachel despised it._

_“Leave me alone,” Rachel replied, quietly._

_Soon after, the rest of the siblings came up to the roof. Rachel looked behind her and sighed. “Oh, for fuck’s sake. Will you all go back inside and let me be?”_

_They all stepped a few feet closer, still giving Rachel some space._

_“You know, Rachel,” Alison said, “You’re the backbone of this family. You keep us all together, keep us on task. We’d be lost without you. Right, everyone?”_

_The other siblings nodded and verbalized their agreement._

_“Yeah, sis, who else is going to yell at us when we fuck up?” Sarah joked. Krystal elbowed her in the ribs and Sarah shrugged._

_Rachel had her eyes closed while they all bickered behind her. She knew they were right. Without her, they would fail. She took a deep breath and swung her legs over the edge and hopped down._

_“Fine, I’ll stay alive for you screw-ups, but I’m applying for a new job on Monday. The bank has openings.”_

_“We don’t know anything about banking,” Cosima argued._

_“I’ll handle it,” Rachel answered. And she did._

Rachel lifts the gun and points it at Sarah. “I am _so tired_ of taking care of you and everyone else. Without me, we would still be stuck in some dead end job, wondering how we were going to pay for our next meal. No more. I’m living for myself from here on out. Beth Childs is _mine_.”

Sarah grabs the metallic soap dispenser from the edge of the sink and throws it at Rachel, who attempts to dodge it. Sarah tackles Rachel, which causes her to drop the gun and it slides across the floor. Sarah scrambles for the gun and Rachel grabs her by the leg and drags her away, running for the gun herself. Sarah grabs her ankle, causing Rachel to trip.

Sarah climbs up Rachel’s body and reaches for the gun, but Rachel grabs it first. She points it at Sarah, who is straddled on top of her. Sarah clutches Rachel’s hands and tries to overpower her. Sarah punches Rachel in the jaw and she loosens her grip on the gun. Sarah is able to pry it away and points it back at Rachel, who grabs onto Sarah’s wrists to try and wrestle it out of her hands.

A single gunshot rings out and both sisters look at each other with pain and sadness in their eyes.

* * *

Paul, Cosima, and Helena make it to the server room and head toward the computer in the back. Cosima sits down while Paul and Helena hide behind a couple of shelves. Ferdinand and his team aren’t far behind and start breaking down the door.  Paul uses the gun he took from one of the unconscious cryo-sleep officers to keep the CAB officers at bay while Helena sneaks closer. She uses the baton she took from an officer to hit one of the intruding officers over the head. When he falls backward, Helena holds him up and uses his gun to shoot at the other officers and Ferdinand. She hits the other officers, but Ferdinand is able to take cover.

Cosima starts the upload of the video that Sarah sent them and sends a message to Krystal and Alison, saying that they’ve begun. The two girls in the library send a message to Delphine to tell her to send the e-mail. Ferdinand leans into one of the shelves that holds the servers and it causes a chain reaction and knocks Paul over. He’s able to use it as a distraction to escape the room; Helena rushes over to help Paul.

Sarah makes her way through the hall where Leekie is giving his campaign speech, bloodied and bruised. She is able to walk into the crowd and before Leekie can tell his guards to seize her, the screens behind him turn on. The video feed from the server room shows the footage that Sarah took. It shows that CAB is actually murdering siblings, rather than freezing them. There’s a hushed gasp throughout the room. Then, Rachel comes out from the hallway with the gun pointed in front of her. She has blood all over her dress, coming from the wound in her shoulder, and her left arm dangles at her side.

Ferdinand runs in and sees the woman pointing a gun in Leekie’s general direction and doesn’t distinguish that it’s Rachel. He fires a round into her and it hits her midsection and she falls to the ground. Paul rushes in and shoots Ferdinand, then he shouts at the officers on stage to hold Leekie.

Sarah rushes over to Rachel and Cosima and Helena also do so when they enter the room. Rachel’s breath is labored and tears flow freely; Sarah holds one of her hands.

“I just wanted to live,” Rachel says, straining between each word. “Don’t… don’t let them take them,” she continues, putting her other hand on her belly. When Sarah realizes what Rachel means, she begins to sob. Rachel was pregnant. When she lets out her last breath, it makes Sarah cry even harder and Cosima hugs her sister close. Helena puts a hand on each of their shoulders.

* * *

The Child Allocation Act is eventually repealed and Aldous Leekie is put on trial for the murder of thousands of siblings, as is Ferdinand. Rachel’s babies, twins, were able to be saved and are being incubated in an artificial womb. The remaining siblings are able to live out their lives the way they want, without restrictions. Sarah moves in with Paul; Helena, Alison, and Krystal all find a place together. They all still talk at least once a day, to give their reports like they used to do at the dinner table. One night, Cosima is late for their meeting and Sarah calls her up.

Cosima feels her bracelet vibrate and she lifts a sheet off of her head. “Uh, hey guys. Sorry, I lost track of time.”

“You know we can see you, right?” Krystal says, stifling a laugh. Cosima realizes that she doesn’t have her glasses on and isn’t wearing a shirt.

“Oh, for Pete’s sake, put some clothes on, Cosima,” Alison exclaims, covering her eyes.

“Hi, Delphine,” Sarah calls out.

The blonde peeks out from under the covers and scoots closer to Cosima. “Er, hi,” Delphine answers, giving an embarrassed smile and a little wave.

“Looks like sestra have early dinner,” Helena jabs. The other sisters burst out into laughter and Cosima turns beet red, throwing the sheet back over her face.

“All right, all right. Cosima, you’re excused from tonight’s meeting. We’ll talk to you tomorrow, sis.” They hang up and leave Cosima and Delphine to themselves.

Delphine lifts the sheet and pulls it over her own head. Cosima has her face covered by both of her hands. Delphine pulls them away, so she can look into the brunette’s eyes. She strokes Cosima’s cheek gently and kisses her. When she pulls away, she asks, “Do you want to continue what we started?”

Cosima turns her body over, so that her face is flat on the mattress. She mutters, “I think I’m too embarrassed to do anything right now.”

Delphine rubs tiny circles on the small of Cosima’s back. She kisses her shoulder and lifts herself up slightly to move her kisses to the space between Cosima’s shoulder blades. She moves the kisses down her spine and ghosts her hands down Cosima’s sides.

Cosima hums in contentment and turns over. She reaches up to pull Delphine’s lips down to hers, kissing her deeply. Delphine brings her hand up to caress one of Cosima’s breasts. She kisses down the brunette’s neck, across her clavicle, down to the other breast. She takes a nipple into her mouth and sucks.

Cosima lets out a gasp and arches her back, tangling her hand in golden locks. Delphine continues her path down Cosima’s ribs and down to her stomach. When she gets to her hips, Delphine kisses them and sucks gently. Cosima spreads her legs to invite the blonde in between them; Delphine acquiesces.

She kisses Cosima’s inner thigh, causing her to shiver. The closer she gets to her center, the heavier Cosima’s breathing gets. Delphine plants kisses on all of the sensitive spots between Cosima’s legs. She bucks her hips to meet Delphine’s mouth, silently begging her to continue.

Delphine swipes her tongue up the length of Cosima’s slit and she cries out, putting a hand on top of the blonde’s head. Delphine repeats the motion and adds a flick of her tongue around the tiny bundle of nerves.

“Fuck,” Cosima hisses, “keep doing that.”

Delphine snakes her arms around Cosima’s thighs and pulls them open. She flicks Cosima’s clit again, eliciting another moan from her, and continues circling it with her tongue.

Cosima feels her stomach tighten and she takes one of Delphine’s hands and interlocks their fingers together. She feels herself getting closer, her breathing becomes more erratic. She squeezes Delphine’s hand tighter, letting her know she’s almost there. Then, with a loud cry, Cosima feels her body get stiff and rigid while Delphine sucks her clit one last time. Cosima’s body convulses a couple more times while she rides out her orgasm and when she’s coherent enough, she pulls Delphine up to her.

She wraps her arms around her and kisses the head of blonde curls, inhaling the scent that she never wants to forget. Delphine wraps her arms around Cosima’s waist and nuzzles her face in the crook of her neck, kissing it delicately.

After a minute or two, Delphine looks up into eyes that are overflowing with adoration and asks, “Do you love me today?”

Cosima smiles and kisses her, and answers with every ounce of truth she has in her body, “Today, and every other day.”


End file.
